In 2002, the William and Alice Goodwin Experimental Therapeutics Center (ETC), led by David A. Scheinberg, Chair of the Molecular Pharmacology and Chemistry Program, was established to foster improved collaboration between Memorial Sloan Kettering clinicians and scientists who have an interest in drug discovery. The ETC provided an organizational framework that helped streamline a tradition of translational research at Memorial Sloan Kettering, Dr. Scheinberg said. Sloan Kettering Institute’s Cancer Biology and Genetics Program, launched in 2003, accrued a multidisciplinary faculty focused on investigating various aspects of cancer and its treatment — from elucidating the mechanisms by which tumors metastasize or respond to therapy, to exploring new drug targets. And the Molecular Pharmacology and Chemistry Program enlisted new expertise in chemistry — both scientists and research support staff — to facilitate the development of diverse and innovative pharmaceuticals, from gene therapies to cancer vaccines.

Since 1980, the Food and Drug Administration has approved nine drugs developed in Memorial Sloan Kettering labs for marketing — a success rate attained by very few other research organizations. (A study led by Boston University recently ranked Memorial Sloan Kettering one of the top three public-sector research organizations in the discovery of new therapeutic products, behind the National Institutes of Health’s intramural program and the ten-campus University of California.)